A New Home for Catz Graduates
St Catherine’s opened its doors as a College in 1962 in what was a revolutionary event for the University. Not only was Catz a new College, it was also Oxford’s first example of pure Modernist architecture by one of Europe’s most brilliant architects, Arne Jacobsen. This gave our forward-thinking community a distinct identity, setting us apart from other Colleges.
Now, 60 years since Jacobsen began his designs for St Catherine’s, the College is under construction again. This time, we are using the last available space on College land to construct three new pavilions and a new graduate centre.
The new buildings will allow the graduate community at Catz to thrive. The pavilions comprise 78 bedrooms, doubling the amount of graduate students who can live on site, and the graduate centre will house an MCR, seminar rooms and several multipurpose spaces.
We are delighted to announce that we will be naming the graduate centre The Ainsworth Graduate Centre to honour our late Master’s commitment to the project and his love and dedication to Catz and our community.
A visualisation of the Ainsworth Graduate Centre.
Construction began in July 2018 and we have recently begun to get a real idea of what the buildings will look like once they are completed. The new accommodation – three three-storey pavilions – complement Jacobsen’s original designs; and the graduate centre is going to be a spectacular three-storey circular structure, providing versatile space for academic work and events.
Work is due to be completed this autumn, in time for graduates to move in for Michaelmas term.
Photos: Purcell
If you would like to donate to support this project, you can do so here, or speak to the Development Office on 00 44 1865 281 585 or by emailing development.office@stcatz.ac.uk.